Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to portable stools and, more particularly, to a collapsible office stool with castering wheels that can be carried and operated by a single handle using a person's single hand.
Prior Art
It is often necessary for people to interact with machines or other people on a temporary basis. These interactions occur in office settings constantly throughout the world. The majority of cases when people interact in an office setting, one person is already seated. For the other person to communicate effectively for all but brief periods, a sitting position is optimum, allowing for both relaxed communication and reduced physical effort on the visiting individual. This situation is especially common in office spaces that have been separated by partitions or cubicles, or in doctors' offices.
Temporary seating has been around since tools themselves. A four-legged folding stool was proposed in the early part of the last century. See U.S. Pat. No. 816,158 (Erickson). This stool was designed particularly for camping, used a soft material for the seat, and seemed to require maneuvering of individual parts to erect into a usable device. By 1915 a design was disclosed that collapses a stool into a walking stick. This concept, again, contained a soft seat made of fabric. A reciprocating center rod, combined with straps, synchronized the retraction of four supporting legs. Extending the legs on this design would also require both hands and some maneuvering. See U.S. Pat. No. 1,166,386 (Perrin). By 1919 a stool design was suggested that contained three legs and a more substantial seat than its predecessors. This design required complete assembly and disassembly of individual parts to make it usable or compact. See U.S. Pat. No. 1,365,873 (Waderlow). In 1978, a device was presented to provide doctors a seat while performing long procedures. This stool contained three main legs and two auxiliary outriggers for stability. Its size could be reduced by collapsing the legs and outriggers for transportation. This stool was designed to be stationary as it used suction cups to secure the legs to the floor. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,183,579 (Gonzalez). Yet another collapsible stool design with a cloth seat was presented in 1989. This very simplistic design contained a plurality of poles hinged at about their midpoints with ends connected to a common piece of cloth. No reciprocating motion was used to expand or contract the legs. Again, maneuvering would be required using both hands to get this device into a stable seating configuration. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,638 (Davis). In 1990, a chair configuration was disclosed that used two hinge lines and a piece of cloth to create collapsible seat. This design is similar to the common lawn chair and has a limited ability to expand wide enough for a stable seating configuration, yet be compact. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,690 (Torrey). A portable stool with a single main telescoping support and a plurality of stabilizing legs was disclosed. This stool is designed specifically for outdoor use where a spring-loaded main support provides shock absorption for a sitting person if they should come in contact with an animal or discharge a firearm while seated. The plurality of legs are manually installed using fasteners at the time of use. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,062,638 (Ferguson). Another outdoor seating design was disclosed in 2005 that uses a single pole extending from a seat to the ground that provides a means supporting one's weight while fishing or other outdoor activity. This design is compact but has no means of providing stability. See US. Pat. No. 2005/0242630 (Miller).